On Saturday, Dutch superstar and recently-crowned #1 DJ in the world Hardwell performed one of his biggest shows ever: a headlining gig at New York's Madison Square Garden. Hardwell was the latest EDM act to take the iconic venue's stage, following Eric Prydz, Above & Beyond, and Bassnectar. But before conquering the Garden, Hardwell decided to do something a lot smaller: an extremely intimate pre-show rager in a luxury hotel lounge for SiriusXM listeners.The Gansevoort Park Avenue is the kind of hotel where you have to get through at least three layers of gatekeepers before arriving at your destination. Two women with tablets greet you at the entrance, another guard waits in the lobby, and a bouncer stands guard over the top floor. As the elevator doors slide open, screeching EDM pounds in from every direction. It feels like being dropkicked in the face.
It's only 5PM—not even dinnertime yet—but in hotels like this, party brunches are the new club nights, and you can do whatever you want as long as you're on the guestlist. On the ceiling, LED panels shimmer pink, white and grey. The VIPS behind the velvet rope order bottle service and buckets of ice. The dancefloor looks like a Skittles bag filled with the craziest flavors: goateed Jersey boys with backwards baseball caps, glossed-up sorority sisters swaying tipsily on their stilettoes, middle-aged couples taking endless selfies, and one lonely raver with an electric blue Mohawk and JNCO pants.From the get-go, Hardwell drops the bangers hard and fast, running through a catalog of chart toppers—from his knockout 2012 electro anthem "Apollo" to Calvin Harris' smash hit "Blame," plus some fresh cuts off his upcoming album like "Arcadia," featuring twenty-year-old Dutch newcomer Joey Dale. The room is small enough that you can see Hardwell bouncing around on his heels, grinning and mouthing the words to every song. Nothing can contain how psyched he is to play this music at ear-splitting volumes, even if sometimes the set feels too big for the pint-sized lounge. The explosive drops push against the walls, clamoring for open skies and space to breathe. Stadium-sized EDM need stadiums. Luckily, he'll get the chance to do it all again at Madison Square Garden in a couple hours.At the end of the hour-long showcase, Hardwell wipes off his forehead and thanks the crowd. "I'm super super super excited for Madison Square Garden. It's going to be the biggest show ever!" he crows. The MC asks him how he will celebrate his victory—for the second time in a row, he's cinched the number one title in DJ Mag's rather notorious Top 100 DJs poll. Last year, he went skydiving. Hardwell looks a little thrown by the question. Maybe he hasn't had time to think about ways to celebrate, or maybe he wasn't planning to. "Um, last year, my friends came up with the idea," he stammers, "So… I've got to figure out what to do this time." The crowd cheers anyway. Then, a few camera flashes later, he's gone.@MichelleLhooq
Advertisement